


Dead Or Alive, You're Coming With Me

by AveragePotato, licoricebrightwater



Category: Undertale
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Alphys Is A Whole-Ass Mood, Bad Puns, Dark, Drug Use, Everyone Has Issues, F/F, F/M, Flowey Is A Whole Ass-Salad With Extra Croutons, Frisk Has Issues, Frisk Has More Issues Than Nintendo Power, Frisk Is A Medical Marvel, Get Off Gerson's Lawn, Issues, Mettaton Can't People, Other, Sans Has Issues, Slice of Life, Spicy Frisk, Underage Drinking, Undyne Chooses To Learn The Hard Way, Undyne Has Issues, Undyne Is Chaotic Good, alphys has issues, darker, yet darker
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-24
Updated: 2021-02-24
Packaged: 2021-03-14 09:27:34
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29665194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AveragePotato/pseuds/AveragePotato, https://archiveofourown.org/users/licoricebrightwater/pseuds/licoricebrightwater
Summary: Alphys was convinced that things would always be the same.After all, the Underground had been stuck that way for a long time. People were in despair. Monsters were struggling just to get by. Even her research had hit a dead end. For the longest time, Alphys just couldn't shake the feeling that she had forgotten something terribly important.Then a human comes falling from the sky, and Alphys doesn't know whether her life just changed for the better or the worse.
Relationships: Alphys/Undyne, Alphys/W. D. Gaster
Comments: 4
Kudos: 12





	Dead Or Alive, You're Coming With Me

0-0-0-0-0

  
  


Alphys did not necessarily consider herself an especially complicated person.

She always got the strangest feeling that she had forgotten something.

It was very late, or very early depending on your perspective. It was two… something. A.M? P.M? It got confusing sometimes. Her routine was a relatively simple one. Mornings were always the hardest for her, though. They had been for a long time. Dragging herself out of bed was difficult enough, she never wanted to leave the peace and comfort that her blush inducing dreams could provide. It was nice, to just let go of all the anxiety and dread of the day, hang it up with her coat and just curl up with a good book and fall into a somewhat peaceful slumber after a long day, or at least as best she could manage. Even though a lot of times the nightmares got to her, she had an imagination to drive away the bad dreams. But, as with all things, good things had to come to an end. So she wound up fumbling for the alarm bright and early just as every other morning, yawning and stretching with one arm behind her head. She rubbed her frills and tussled with her pajamas for a moment before clicking the button on the side of her mechanical bed, letting it collapse back into an easy to store box for convenience.

Alphys began her day with a relatively healthy breakfast of ramen and coffee. Granted, relatively healthy to what she used to eat for breakfast, but that was neither here nor there. After all, it wasn’t like she had a great selection of items, and she certainly wasn’t in the mood to go ‘downstairs’ to root around for anything else, so this would have to do. She turned on her computer and stifled a yawn as she nestled into her computer chair, tapping around her pajamas for a few seconds before realizing that she still didn’t have her glasses on. No wonder it was so fuzzy on the screen. She finally found her oculars and cleaned them off with the hem of her shirt, sliding them on and readjusting in her seat, preparing for another long day.

Oddly enough, it  _ hadn’t _ just been her terrible eyesight that left the screen before her blank and fuzzy. That was unexpected in and of itself. The video stream displaying a puzzle in Snowdin was showing nothing but an empty white static. Alphys clicked her tongue and tried to readjust the video cable, that thing did come loose sometimes resulting in some dead air. However, that did nothing to solve the problem, and she attempted to transfer the current view to another camera in Snowdin, this one further from the main data line.

Strange…

Yet another blank screen.

Now thoroughly ruffled, Alphys chewed her tongue and set about systematically rebooting all of the video feeds starting from scratch. It took a long while, far longer than it should have in fact, but she finally managed to reset all of her systems. She wondered if it was a problem on her end, it very well could have been. Machinery couldn’t be expected to work perfectly all the time. Bizarre, however, that the only screens malfunctioning were because of those in Snowdin. She’d have to check up with her contacts to see if any of the local teens had been playing around with her equipment again. And after she had worked so  _ hard _ to keep them hidden this time, too. Distracted, she clicked her tongue and finished off her noodles, now ready to start the day. She debated showering but really didn’t want to go all the way to the sub-lab this early in the day, it wasn’t even breakfast time for the ‘guests’ yet. She repressed a guilty shiver and let out a sigh. 

“You can’t keep doing this…” Alphys tiredly pushed up her glasses and rubbed her eyes. “Come on, A-Alphys. One m-more day.”

One more day.

Just one day at a time.

That was Undyne’s advice for handling stress, and she took it to heart. After all, her friend’s opinions meant very much to her, and she agreed with it on some level. If she could make it through an hour, she could make it through a day. If she could make it through a day, she could make it through tomorrow. She  _ had _ to. There were people counting on her. So many people.

The guilt swarmed over her despite her best efforts to push it down and she drowned it in sugar loaded coffee. The caffeine didn’t really seem to help much, if anything only serving to make her twitchier than normal. And she was a fairly twitchy person to begin with, the daily serving of coffee probably wasn’t helping much. But it helped to wake her up in the mornings, and there was no way that she was sacrificing her sweet precious bean juice no matter what. She let out a breath through her nostril, dressed in a lab coat and set to work.

It was normally the same from day to day, nothing out of the ordinary. Just go over the video footage and check for any humans that had fallen, day in day out; but considering how no humans had fallen down into the Underground in literally years, it was difficult to keep up hope. It wasn’t like one was just going to fall into her lap, after all. Alphys sipped at her coffee as she flipped through screens, almost giving up for a while to work on one of her myriad of side projects. At least, until her eye caught something in one of the security cameras. Odd, she hadn’t seen anyone coming left or right on that particular passageway previously. Perhaps she had just overlooked them? There was no audio feed for this, and Alphys paused. What in Asgore’s kingdom was going on with the recording hardware lately? It was never this finicky. She clicked and clacked at the screen, zooming in on the figure slumped next to a magma stream.

There wasn’t really anyone else about at this time of morning that she could call about this sort of anomaly, not that she was willing to bother with what might be nothing. But it was impossible to tell from the video. Her interest was caught now. Perhaps someone had tossed out some old garbage that might be salvageable. That was where some of her favorite anime had been procured. So she shrugged, buttoned up her lab coat and set off for the location. It wasn’t even too far into Hotland, just a hop and a skip actually. It took her a few minutes of walking and she hadn’t run into any other monsters aside from a small sleepy fire elemental chatting on the phone, and she scurried past him in a hurry with a stammered apology for being in his way when she wasn’t. But still, better safe than sorry. It took a while more of walking, and her checking on her phone for the live connection of the video feed helped to locate the mystery washed along the lava shore. Alphys trundled along at a steady pace, trying to figure out what that weird blueish blackened lump might have been. In all likelihood, nothing at all, just some trash. Maybe she’d be in her element with it.

  
  
  
  


At first, Alphys thought it was a monster that had wandered too close to the lava pools but as she got closer, her heart jumped into her throat: it was a person, and not even a monster at that. A human, an actual  _ human  _ and a very small one at that. Or rather, what was left of one. Its skin was blackened in places, and warped from fresh burns in others, a black mass across its torso and legs suggested that it had been wearing some form of clothing that had been half-burnt and half-melted onto their body, honestly it hurt to just look at the poor thing.    
  
Then a soft gasp, had that just been air leaving the body? Good lord, was that thing  _ alive? _ The remnants of one of their arms moved, gods… gods it  _ was  _ alive! Alphys body seemed to be on autopilot as she scooped up the charred child and sprinted back to her lab, her bare clawed feet leaving scratches in the sand and stone in her wake. The child was breathing weakly but they WERE alive, at least for the moment, she had no time to waste. If there was something, anything she could do to save this soul, she had to  _ try. _

Thankfully, there were plenty of stainless steel tables for her work scattered around the lab, so it was no challenge to find one to place the child on, and quickly examine them: burnt skin all over, definitely going to be scarring, even with green magic… green magic, that’s right. Alphys was not a skilled healer by any rights, but thankfully she always kept a steady supply of liquid healing magic on hand for emergencies, and she thanked every wishing star that she had stocked up. As the sole doctor for the majority of the Underground she had to keep a good stock, and resupplying was strenuous at best. It took massive amounts of energy to convert geothermal power into manageable magic.

The reptile scampered over to a walk-in fridge and returned with several large jugs of a cooled green fluid; she had become one of the defacto physicians in the underground, necessitating her to keep materials on-hand for aiding hurt monsters. If someone was hurt, or Asgore forbid, grievously injured to the point of falling down, she would see them at some point or another. Alphys was the last bastion for an injured monster. Almost any monster could perform some method of healing magic, but hers was…  _ lackluster _ at best. She could barely heal a papercut, and that was with  _ effort. _ Hence the formidable supply of formulae.

The human was transferred from the table to a large metal tub, soft, pained whimpers escaping their throat. Alphys suspected they would be closer to shrieks of agony, but in her condition, this was all they could muster. The green fluid was poured from the jugs into the tub, the child shuddering in response, whether from relief or pain she couldn’t tell, though she suspected a bit of both. 

Once the jugs were empty, Alphys reached in and gently laid the human down on their back, their face largely uncovered by the green fluid, but the rest of them was largely submerged in the liquid healing magic that was already starting to change colour from blood, ash, and flaking off dead skin. Stars above, it was a miracle that they were alive at  _ all _ , and if she didn’t act quickly they wouldn’t be for much longer. She didn’t think she could bring herself to speak even if she wanted to, as the other part of her very much wanted to  _ scream _ right then, but she had seen plenty of terrible things. She could fight this. She could help, she just had to  _ try. _

Once they were no longer in immediate danger of terminating, it allowed Alphys to examine them closer, trying to get an idea for how bad these injuries were and what she’d need to do. Hurrying over to a metal cart, she filled it with a box of surgical gloves, scissors, scalpels and other tools, an oxygen mask with attached supply, various empty syringes, sponges, and two more jugs of cooled liquid magic. With the condition that the little human was in, she would likely need much, much more. She was fearful to pull out their soul to see what kind of condition that they were in, it could very well break just on exposure.

With her clawed hands covered with gloves, Alphys took the scissors and began to gently cut away at the child’s shirt, taking great pains to not slice open their burnt flesh. The little one coughed and whimpered again as the clothes peeled away, ripping small tears in their skin as it was removed, Alphys murmuring apologies over and over.    
  
One arm was entirely missing and the other was so badly mangled that Alphys wasn’t sure of how much she could save. No, there was nothing for that. There were some parts of them that were just too far gone, but she wouldn’t give up, not when someone needed help. She dumped the burnt remains of the shirt into a stainless steel bucket and then moved for their pants… shorts… whatever, she moved for their waist coverings. There should have been melted metal on the crotch from a zipper and button, but there wasn’t, which in the moment at least, was a relief as she kept carefully cutting. The child made a breathy, gurgling sound as a large strip of skin was pulled off a leg, Alphys’ eyes watering with tears, but she kept cutting.

“I’m sorry, I’m so-sorry,” she stammered, “I-I know it hu-hurts, pl-please bear with m-me.” They were a girl, Alphys could see that much. She had been scorched and injured more than she could have imagined from first sight, if she didn’t hurry she wasn’t going to be around for much longer. Alphys’s breath came in short, ragged gasps as she worked as rapidly and frantically as she could whilst still retaining a careful claw, but her trembling sweaty hands were almost too much to manage.

Alphys took a sponge and soaked it with more green magic and began to dab at the exposed skin, the girl sniffling as the magic worked, but there was so much damage, how could she… the girl coughed again, and Alphys hooked up the oxygen mask. 

“Her l-lungs are probably b-burnt,” The scientist mused grimly, “She-she’ll need me to do… something.” It never once crossed her mind to question WHY she was doing this, why she was trying to save the tiny scrap of a human, because to Alphys the answer was readily apparent: this child was in pain and suffering. 

And that was enough.

Painkillers were not really a thing most monsters needed, but Alphys had the next best thing: a blue powder that induced sleep. Sans used it fairly regularly, something about ‘nightmares’ or something, she had tried to dissuade him from abusing it, but the skeletal monster had ignored her. Fortunately, his enthusiastic use of the stuff meant that Alphys kept a ready supply, so she mixed it with some water and green healing fluid and filled a syringe. 

“I-I’m going to let you sl-sleep, okay?” She stammered, touching the crispy skin of the child, “S-So I can f-figure out how to he-help you.” Obviously, the little one couldn’t speak in response, so Alphys went ahead and injected into an artery and within moments, the child was silently asleep. 

That stuff would last for hours, but Alphys prepared several more hypodermics - just in case - before moving on and touching the child’s legs. She could tell right away that the left leg was beyond her ability to save, so mangled, twisted and broken, with bones jutting out of the skin from every direction, it would have to be amputated. 

The girl’s left cheek was broken and would have to be set, Alphys suspected she landed on it, and the left eye was a total write-off. She couldn’t tell if it was from the impact, some debris or the heat, but the left eye had become a milky white, fortunately she knew she could replace that. She had a special ocular replacement project that she had been keeping in the wings for a while now, and if this didn’t warrant an immediate testing then she didn’t know what did.

The golden-scaled doctor paused in her evaluation to retrieve another tub and fill it with fresh healing magic, then transfer the little human over to it; the original tub’s healing magic had turned to a black, brackish sludge with chunks of burnt flesh and muscle floating in it. Gross. The doctor was proud that she didn’t vomit as she poured it out and gave it a quick rinse: disinfectant, definitely would need disinfectant. And likely lots more of it.

Back to the girl, she had broken teeth that would have to be replaced as well, Alphys had heard from Undyne how agonizing a cracked tooth could be. Her nose would have to be set, and her neck would need to be reinforced. Her back, unsurprisingly, was broken, along with six ribs, and that wasn’t even considering the internal organs. A quick series of X-Rays and a magic scan painted an equally grim picture: internal burns that would require treatment or even full-on prosthetic replacement. 

She gave the girl another healing injection.

Alphys sat back in her chair, her newest pair of gloves splattered with blood, green healing magic, and blue sleeping powder, and just stared at the child, her cheeks soaked with tears. It was hard to say whether or not the little one’s possible survival was a good thing, because on one hand - she had survived, which was better than what most could claim. But on the other, she  _ had  _ survived this long - and now suffered such immense agony because of it.

The girl’s breathing grew short and weak.

She was beginning to lose her, wasn’t she?

She gave the girl another healing injection.

Doctor Alphys turned back to one of her computers and began to input the data she had collected, already coming to terms with the fact that if this little human was to survive, she would need prosthetics. A lot of prosthetics, both externally and internally. She had her work set out for her.

Normally, Alphys would have consulted a parent or the patient themself about this diagnosis, but there were no parents to be found, and the patient was incapacitated, not to mention she looked about nine or ten years old by human standards, no way would someone so small and young be equipped to make an informed decision.

Alphys had put up the scans and x-rays to better examine them and create a plan for recovery, studying the injuries closely. 

“...Right arm s-salvageable, but w-will need heavy reinf-forcement,” She typed, “Left arm missing, replace.” She glanced at the X-Rays again, “Spinal c-column will need replacement, connection to brain stem for in-interface, left eye replaced, possibly right eye as well.” The doctor paused to get a drink of water and checked the human’s vitals: weak but still there, good. She was hanging on, but just barely.

“Left thigh broken, but fixable, right leg mangled, replacement  _ necessary _ .” She frowned and shifted in her chair to get a bit more comfortable, “Ribs will n-need reinforcement and replacement, see attached notes,” she typed out quickly which would need to be reinforced, and which would need to be replaced entirely.

The girl got another injection.

“Dental replacement, jaw and skull will need prompt reinforcement.” Alphys anxiously chewed on a thumb claw, she didn’t know if there was any brain damage or memory loss from the fall, but currently had no way of checking that. The rest of the organs however were a different matter, though a grim one.

“Lungs are s-scorched, not viable long-term, will need replacement, h-heart damaged but functional, will need enhancement. Rest of the o-organs are b-b-bruised but functional, keep under observation for any internal damage.” 

She leaned back, how long had she been at this? No, didn’t matter, she pushed her glasses back up her snout and kept writing, “Severe blood loss, no viable h-human blood on hand for replacement, will have to synthesize blood replacement.” She was getting worked into a sweat as she typed, repeatedly checking on the human at regular intervals just in case. A replacement that would both be functionally the same and not be rejected by the body. Of course, all of these prosthetics would need a power source to function, and Alphys didn’t know if the child’s vocal chords had been damaged or not as whimpers were not a good test of vocal capabilities. If they had inhaled any amount of heat it couldn’t have been good for them. She had studied human anatomy extensively as had been expected of the Royal Scientist, but even her research couldn’t provide her with all of the necessary information that she needed. But inaction would be just as deadly as killing the human herself. They wheezed for breath in their slumber and Alphys patted their burned forehead as gently as she dared, chewing her bottom lip.

She could save her. She  _ knew _ she could do it. But it was going to take more than just ticking away at a computer. This was going to require hands on work, lots of it, and fast.

“Y-you’re g-going to be o-okay…” Alphys murmured, and she wasn’t entirely certain who she was speaking to at that point. “I p-p-promise. So don’t worry. Y-you’re in good h-hands, human.”

Asgore help her how she wanted that to be true.

0-0-0-0-0

  
  


The human girl’s health fell into such dangerous territory that several times, Alphys was fearful that she had nearly lost her completely. It was no longer sustainable to keep her within the bath of green magic. Despite its inherent healing properties it still wasn’t nearly enough. 

So, Alphys was forced to make a rather pressing decision that she still wasn’t certain if she regretted or not.

She rode down the elevator with the human in dead silence.

“Come on…” Alphys muttered more to herself than anything, the girl’s failing heartbeat only serving to hurry her onward. “J-just another i-injection, you’ll be a-alright…!”

Her claws were trembling furiously now, even as she injected the DT right into the human’s vein. She bit her tongue and danced from foot to foot nervously, uncertain of just how the human girl might react to having determination introduced to her system intravenously, but at this point she was desperate. If she didn’t figure out  _ something _ she was going to lose her.

And Alphys didn’t think that she could lose any more patients.

Surprisingly enough the human’s heartbeat stabilized somewhat, displayed as it was by the ekg machine connected to her. Long abandoned were the tattered burned remnants of clothing that she could peel off of the poor thing, having already slipped her into a surgical gown. Her claws still trembled as she attempted yet another injection of liquidized green magic to chase the determination, though at this point she knew full well that it would not heal her of such vicious injuries. The best that she could hope for was some level of stabilization, at least if she could manage that she could work from there. 

After hours, grueling  _ hours _ of tending to the human, the various screening machines and magical devices connected to the girl eventually, at long last,  _ finally _ began to even out somewhat. Alphys released a sweaty breath of relief, leaning against the edge of the bed and wiping her brow with the crook of her sleeve, nudging her glasses aside. 

Alphys had long since lost count of just how many times she had been forced to heal the girl with what limited supplies she had. She did not possess an infinite amount, and it had severely depleted her stores, but that was a problem for future Alphys. As for now, she had at least managed to circumvent her immediate demise, and that was a step in the right direction. Speaking of taking steps, she had already had to surgically bandage up the human’s leg, or what was left of it anyway. But it still left glaring issues that she did not particularly want to face, despite just how vital it was that she do so. This was going to take a lot more than a bit of needlework and bandages.

There was a grim realization that Alphys was dodging with some mild success: the child would need amputations, and those were easier to do when they were asleep. There was absolutely no saving some parts of them, those that were still hanging on. Given how much damage they had already endured and the pain they had somehow managed to handle, Alphys didn’t want to risk giving them shock from performing the amputation while they were awake and alert. So it was with a heavy heart that she began to mark off parts of the child’s limbs with a marker on the bandages, dodging areas where blood had soaked through.

The rhythmic beeping of the various monitors and readouts lulled the exhausted reptilian monster to sleep. She hadn’t really understood what Sans had meant by saying that just because you slept didn’t mean you rested, but that was about to change with the nightmares that haunted her. Alphys was used to having bad dreams, but this was… something else. Nightmares of failure, of blood all over her claws and dead eyes staring up at her, demanding: “Why didn’t you save me?” in a broken voice, as they gurgled up blood. It was actually a relief to wake up, even if she did so crying. There were so many things she could have done differently. So many things she  _ should  _ have done better.

She must have fallen in and out of slumber periodically, and if so only for brief periods of time. There was simply no actual rest to be had, she was far too stressed and upset. Anything she might have dreamed, however, returned skittering like dark spiders to the crevices of her mind once she awoke, only to haunt her from the back of her whispering thoughts once more as she continued to pour herself into her work. It was almost blissful, though, managing to lose all other distractions and focus solely on the task at hand. It helped to keep the awful thoughts at bay, to keep the jittering nightmares buried under a veneer no matter how thin.

  
  


Alphys knew that she was a hypocrite when it came to giving advice, but especially when it came to Sans. She scolded him constantly about his bad coping habits and vice abuses, but here she was, indulging her own negative coping method: work. At least she had a nice view from her glass house. The little human’s bandages were changed and new ones applied, soaked in green magic of course, and then she had sent out a request for a full resupply, that would get some eyebrows raised and she’d probably have to answer some awkward questions, but she was more worried about the immediate dangers rather than potentially awkward future conversations. A sponge bath followed, clearing away more dead skin as the green magic continued to work, saving what flesh it could. 

There would definitely be scarring though it was impossible at this point to tell how much or how bad. Surgery would help with some of it, but there were limits to what both magic and surgery could accomplish, and this was certainly pushing them. 

She lost count of just how many hours she spent down there in the sublab, her only distractions from her duties being the occasional shambling of a bypassing interested Amalgamate. Thankfully, none of them seemed to be particularly interested in what she was doing unless it involved feeding time, which was both a blessing and a curse. It meant that she was afforded little to no separation from her work, as grisly and nightmarish as it was, there was no way that she could stop now. And who could she possibly ask for help? Humans were supposed to be the enemy, and instead she was actively pursuing against her own interests in favor of  _ saving _ one, Queens teats she must have really lost it this time.

Despite what one may accuse her of, Alphys was entirely and keenly aware of King Asgore’s orders, that she was supposed to be harvesting the child’s soul to bring to him, and she was also aware she was openly defying those orders, but to her all that was secondary - at best. She had taken an oath. She couldn’t just abandon someone in need. It just wasn’t how she worked. Alphys had never taken a life and wasn’t about to start now, her only interest was in saving them, improving them. Maybe she wasn’t the best, maybe she wasn’t the brightest, but she was all some people had.

Whether those lives were monster or human was immaterial.

Her body was actually doing better now that Alphys had completed the amputations, as well as performed some emergency dental surgery to be rid of the damaged teeth. Now, she was working on designing the first of the prosthetics, starting with the reinforcements before moving onto the prosthetic replacements. She was ensconced in her work, utterly enraptured. She couldn’t remember the last time that she had slept, at least not for more than a little bit at a time, as catnaps were all that she warranted and pressed on regardless of the ton of weight draped around her shoulders. She had to stay busy, had to stay moving, had to stay  _ focused _ . And absolutely nothing was going to snap her out of it. It had taken quite a bit of work to move the human back upstairs once the prosthetics were in place. She had been unconscious nearly the entire process, which was to her benefit, really. The girl had really only woken once, and it had been in a tirade of half sputtered tears and dry sobbing before Alphys finally had the mercy to put her back under to complete the surgery. The magically enhanced prosthetics weren’t the  _ prettiest _ , sure, but since Alphys had gathered together parts from Mettaton’s upgraded features and her side projects she hadn’t done too bad a job putting the poor little thing back together, all things considered. Hair draped over her face, Alphys almost could see past the gleaming black replacement installed over her eye socket.

She supposed that they would both find out a lot when she finally awoke-

“Damn Al, what happened?” Alphys wasn’t proud of her resulting  _ shriek _ , but in retrospect had a bit of pride in the nearly six foot vertical leap she had performed, so was Undyne judging by her lopsided grin. 

“U-Undyne y-you scared the sk-skittles out of m-me!” she scolded, her face flushed from embarrassment and adrenaline. She hadn’t even  _ heard _ anyone enter, how did anyone as tall as Undyne manage to slip so stealthily into her lab?

“Heh, sorry ‘bout that Al, but I have been callin’ ya all  _ day _ . Ya didn’ pick up, so I got worried an’ came over ta see what was going on.” The fish lady turned and before Alphys could stop her, strolled over to the bed where the little human was laying, breathing slowly in her sleep.

“...Shit,” Undyne whispered, crouching down to get a better look at the human, “What happened?” Alphys was a bit stunned by the softness that the normally abrasive piscine monster showed, so was a little slow to respond. Perhaps it was the abundance of cast aside bloody bandages and cleaning instruments that had yet to be disinfected after the final time that Alphys had cleaned her up. Alphys hadn’t necessarily had a lot of progress in the fields she did, but at least they weren’t on the other side of the mortal veil.

“Ummm… w-well, I uhh… I found th-them fallen by a la-lava pool, th-they were so ba-badly hurt, it lo-looked like someone hi-hit them with a big ha-hammer a whole bunch.”

“Must have been a  _ helluva  _ fall.” Undyne sympathized, and looked back at the little girl, still clinging to life with an admirable stubborn tenacity. What an incredible will to live!

“You’re…. Yo-you’re not going to ki-ki-ki-ki,” Alphys swallowed “Umm… t-take her soul, are you?” Undyne’s head snapped up, the redhead looking almost  _ offended _ by the question.

“Wha? No!” Undyne responded testily, “Aint nothin’ heroic ‘bout stabbin’ a li’l kid in a hospital bed. That’s the kinda thing a villain does, an’ I aint no  _ villain _ .” Alphys wasn’t sure why she felt a palpable wave of relief wash over her, though it was short lived as Undyne continued, “I will tell King Asgore though.” Alphys immediately forgot to breathe, as fear, anger, guilt, and anxiety came crashing down upon her like a tidal wave. It smothered her instantly, overwhelming her in its intensity, and all of the dread came flooding right back in, and it must have showed on her face. That was as good as killing the human herself, didn’t she understand? 

“But… but he-he’ll-!”   
  
“Dun worry ‘bout it,” Undyne interjected with a strangely confident grin, “Trus’ me, a’right Al? Nothin’ bad’s gonna happen,'' her gaze travelled back to the child, pity filling her good eye, “... He ain't no villain neither.”

Alphys didn’t know what to make of her crush’s words; Undyne adored anime just as much as Alphys did, but always trended towards the more action and violence-oriented shows, and seemed disinterested in the magical girls or similar shows. The powerful monster was fixated on shows about heroism and strength, but… maybe something in those shows had struck a chord with Undyne? Maybe it was just her natural characteristics showing through. Undyne had always been strong willed and fought to do the right thing, she was a practical paragon amongst monsters. But as highly as Alphys regarded her she had to admit that Undyne didn’t always possess the greatest planning skills. 

She could only hope that Undyne was right about Asgore.

“So… what’s the plan?”

“W-what?”

“The plan,” Undyne flipped her ponytail casually behind her. “You got a plan, right?”

“N-not n-n-necessarily..” Alphys tapped her claws together uncertainly. “I… I h-hadn’t really thought this far ahead.”

“Well…” Undyne clasped her hands behind her head, giving her a reassuring grin. “I’m sure it’ll all work out. We just need ta talk it over with the big guy, I’m sure he’ll see reason.”

_ But what if he doesn’t…? _

“Undyne, I…” Alphys’s breath caught in her throat and she shifted away, glancing back to the human. She slumbered somewhat peacefully, her remaining eye closed and the replacement showing a thin red line, almost anime-esque in its appearance. It would have been adorable if the proceedings hadn’t been so awful and macabre. Alphys sighed and readjusted her glasses, looking back to Undyne, who seemed to notice her discomfort. She found a surprisingly tender hand on her shoulder, and when she dared a look upward Undyne was giving her a wary but determined smile.

“You need any help around the lab, Al?” Undyne asked and after a moment of sputtering Alphys blinked and shook her head.

“I-I h-h-have everything u-under control here,” she insisted, despite how very much she felt as though she did not. She wanted so desperately to, to have the confidence and bravado of someone as cool and willful as Undyne. But she could barely drag herself out of bed in the morning, how was she expected to do anything good when her whole life was a smoking dumpster fire of bad decisions?

“... Al?”

“S-sorry, what?” Alphys blinked out of her melancholy reverie. “No. I mean, yes. I mean, what was the question?”

“You sure yer feelin’ alright?” Undyne looked at her with a tenderness that made her cheeks burn. “You look all kinds of outta sorts.”

“I… I just need to keep working,” she stated quietly, looking down to her feet. “I’ll be busy m-most of the d-day, b-but I could a-always use more supplies.”

“Anythin’ I can help with?” she tilted her head to the side, hair falling over her eyepatch in that cute little way of hers that was always hard to stop staring at. 

“W-well…” Alphys felt a bit bolstered now. Dang it all it was hard not to get overwhelmed. “I’m go-going to need health r-restoring items for the h-human. I h-had to i-install a lot of cybernetics i-into her, and m-my medical supplies are a b-bit stretched thin…”

“Restock!” Undyne pumped one fist into her open palm. “Easy peasy. You can count on me, Al!”

“T-thanks, Undyne…” Alphys murmured, and found a hand on her shoulder once more, and she blinked and looked upward to discover Undyne giving her a wide compassionate smile.

“You just sit tight!” she clapped her shoulder a couple times and nodded. “I’ll be back before you know it!”

And just like that Alphys was left relatively alone in the laboratory once more, the dreadful silence hanging over her like a shroud.

0-0-0-0-0

Most children are born with a fear of the dark, a fear that - over time - becomes well justified but also one they learn to handle. Frisk was not one of those children, as from her earliest days she could remember how the dark gave her comfort, a strange sense of safety. Far from the painful light of awakening, dreams were a safe haven, one of the few refuges from the bright dread of the world.

When it was dark out - as in, really, really dark - she knew that she wouldn’t have to be scared or cry or… no, the dark was really good, she liked to think of it as her friend. 

Then a flash of red light filled her vision, and she saw very odd words and numbers scrolling through her vision, though what they meant she couldn’t make heads or tails of. After the tally was finished the words: MEWMEW.OS appeared in her vision before everything became fuzzy and light started to filter in.

It was dark when Frisk first awoke, and Alphys noticed it after a while. The human lay on her back with her arms draped over the clean white surgical sheet, her breathing strained for several long moments. She wore only the surgical gown, a fresh one as the last one had been terribly stained. Alphys gradually put down the phone with the message she had been typing to Undyne, unsure of how she was going to respond to the numerous messages, uncertain as to how she was going to manage this. But she had handled plenty of difficult things, she could do this. Her false bravado dissipated nearly the instant that the human whispered, her scarred throat clearing.

“... What… what happened…?”

Her frail voice fizzled and cracked as the built in modulator came to life. A lightweight, self sufficient little implant that had been worked on for several days during the human’s coma, but it seemed to be working. The girl reached up with one arm, stunned silence creeping like a mist through the room. She stared down at her mechanical fingers, one eye wide as the black strip replacing her other displayed a large ‘O’. She surveyed her arm in shock, fingers trailing over the sleek rounded metal as her cracked lips pursed. She licked her teeth and looked distressed, starting to speak before coughing dryly. The mechanical hand clasped to her throat, fingertips grazing against the scarring. Alphys flinched when she did so, noting the confused look on her face.

“I-I’m sorry I c-couldn’t do m-m-more,” Alphys picked up a pitcher of water next to the bed, brushing aside the wires from the beeping surveillance machine. “Drink?”

“Thank you,” the girl murmured with a hint of robotic crackling in her voice. She took the glass in trembling hands, the false arm shivering just as much as her remaining real one. She drank deeply from the teacup and downed it all in seconds, gasping for breath. Alphys silently refilled the cup and watched her drink down several more cupfuls, three in a row before finally falling back onto the pillow, tangled hair splayed out behind her as she breathed heavily.

“I-I’m Doctor Alphys,” she introduced herself with a little readjustment to her glasses. “W-what’s your name?”

“... Frisk,” her voice crinkled again and she started to reach up with her mechanical arm before flinching. She instead used her other hand to prod at her throat, hand winding up her still healing cheek and dancing over the black magical strip covering her lost eye. She blinked in surprise, giving a strange look to Alphys. Part horror, part shock at the discovery, part disbelief.

“It’s v-very nice to m-meet you, Frisk…” Alphys braved onward, eyes never dropping from her once. “I’m s-so sorry, you-you must have s-so many questions…”

Frisk did not reply aloud, but nodded once. She continuously ran her hand down her mechanical arm, stunned silence filling the air, broken only by the near-silent whirring of tiny engines and mini-hydraulics as the human explored her new implants with a sense of wonder. Oddly enough, there was no sense of fear or anger, just a curiosity one may expect from a kitten that had just discovered a toy.

“I’m n-not sure h-h-how, but…” she began slowly, not wanting to frighten the small thing. “You s-somehow survived falling i-into a m-magma s-stream. I’m k-kind of surprised y-you didn’t just sink…”

“You don’t sink when you fall into lava,” Frisk said without looking at her. “You bounce first.” Alphys really wished that the little human didn’t have that knowledge, and though the amber-scaled scientist tried not to imagine exactly how Frisk had come to hold that particularly bit of gruesome truth, the evidence before her wouldn’t let her.

Even after all her sleep, she looked so tired, so frail, so hurt. It made something primal in Alphys’s soul ache. She wordlessly took the cup from Frisk’s hands, her mechanical fingers  _ tink tink tink _ ing against the ceramic. Frisk still seemed relatively tight lipped, still staring in disbelief at her lost arm.

“It’s a m-magical re-replacement,” Alphys explained quietly. “Sorry if it’s a l-little h-hard to control at t-times, I h-had to make d-do with what I h-had.”

“You didn’t have to do that for me…” she responded in that crinkling, soft tone. She wouldn’t look at Alphys for some reason, one hand wandering up to her cheek and over the thin black strip. It blinked just at the same time she did, just a little bit of programming was all it had taken, nothing much, but Frisk seemed just as confused. 

“M-maybe not,” she dared a kind little smile, “But I w-wanted to, because it w-was the right th-thing to do.”

“The right thing to do would have been leaving me,” Frisk said callously, and Alphys cringed openly.

“W-why would y-you say that?”

Frisk started to move as she spoke but closed her mouth quickly, her one flesh arm tapping lightly against her legs.

_ Tink tink tink. _

Her breathing grew ragged and she looked over Alphys’s face, staring.

“I… I couldn’t s-save  _ all _ of y-you…” Alphys twisted the hem of her lab coat wistfully, “A-And there may be m-more surgeries in th-the future. I do-don’t know how we-well your org-organs are recovering. I’ll h-have to r-run some more s-scans. I’ve b-been healing you a-as best I could. F-for now you s-should just try to acclimatize t-to your new prosthetics, they’re m-magically reinforced b-but like I s-said, I had to m-make do. Is it u-uncomfortable? A-are you in p-pain?”

“I can handle pain,” Frisk said without looking at her. It made something clench in her soul seeing her grimace like that. “Say what you like. Pain is a good motivator.”

“I-I see. You sh-should probably eat, too…” Alphys picked up a bowl of warm noodles from the nightstand. “If you’re f-feeling well enough to-”

Frisk did not speak, but ravenously devoured the noodles. She tore into them with gusto, shoveling down huge mouthfuls, with difficulty due to her shaking hands, but managed to scarf down the entire thing in a matter of seconds. It was almost impressive if it hadn’t been so terrifying to think of just how starving the poor thing was. She had been out of it for an awfully long while, and intravenous magic injections could only do so much for a failing body. Alphys had seen enough of that already, and tried not to think about it.

“This place t-that you’re in is the Underground,” Alphys began to explain as Frisk flexed her mechanical hand, the rounded metal knuckles twisting this way and that as she opened and closed her hand. “It c-can be p-pretty dangerous for a h-human. It m-might be b-best to remain h-h-here for a while w-while you recover, okay?”

“...okay,” the sudden snarling of Frisk’s stomach broke the following tension, it would have been adorably amusing if not for the brunette suddenly slapping her hands over her tummy, fear flashing in her eyes for a moment as she blurted out, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry I didn’t mean to.” Alphys was taken back at the sudden emotional outburst from the - until this point - stoic girl. It was such a dramatic personality change that it momentarily dumbfounded the monster scientist who stared, jaw agape, trying to process what was happening. But, when Frisk lifted her arms to try and shield herself, Alphys was snapped out of her daze, and before she knew it; the reptile had moved to embrace Frisk.

“Shhh… i-it’s okay,” Her body was warm against the metal, “Y-you’re allowed to be hu-hungry,” Alphys soothed, “It-It’s normal, okay? Don’t wo-worry, you’re no-not in trouble.” The words came so easily, those words that Alphys herself longed to hear when panic took her, when her anxiety got too much and she wanted to scream, cry, and throw up at the same time.

The experience however was alien to Frisk, who feared this to be some kind of nasty trick; any moment now, this Doctor would start hitting her for making noise without being allowed to, or… or… where… where was it? The chubby bespectacled scientist was simply holding Frisk, her claws gently rubbing against the thin girl’s spine. God she was so thin… too thin, Alphys wasn’t certain what a healthy weight was for a humanling, but gods it had to be more than what Sans weighed. Hells, she feared that Sans actually weighed MORE than Frisk did, and he was literally just cloth and bones.    
  
And alcoholism, and bad jokes, and cigarette and drug addiction, and self-loathing, and depression. Okay so maybe he had a lot more on his shoulders then she was giving him credit for but that was besides the point. But it wasn’t like she was going to bring up her friend’s problems with anyone else.

She wouldn’t say that Frisk had calmed down, but at least the girl was no longer shaking - or rather, not shaking as much - so Alphys released her and gave what she hoped was a warm and welcoming smile to the child. Her gaze was constantly locked over her shoulder for some reason, despite how she tried to catch her gaze. Frisk just stared dumbstruck for a long time.

“H-Here, I’ll ma-make you some mo-more food, ok-okay?” And without waiting for an answer, she turned around to get more noodles; and stared right into the face of King Asgore Dreemurr, King of the Monsters and Lord of the Underground. She hadn’t even heard him enter, how did someone that large move so silently?

It was a good thing Monsters didn’t have to worry about bladders, else she would have emptied hers at that moment.

“...Uhh…Hi.” The king greeted lamely, lifting a massive paw to wave sheepishly at the confused human and utterly terrified royal scientist. Full royal regalia, cloak draped around his shoulders and hanging down, his armor gleaming in the light. Alphys was seemingly stuck in making an extended monotone shriek, and clamped her mouth shut in embarrassment. Undyne was no-where to be seen, so it was just Alphys, Frisk, and the King of the Monsters who had declared that all humans were to be executed and their souls brought to him, standing in the shiny, chrome lab. Which meant that things probably weren’t going to go as she had planned today. Panic climbed up from the back of her mind and throttled her, intense beads of sweat gathering on her forehead.

“...Are you a doctor too, sir?” Frisk inquired timidly, earning a stunned stare from Asgore, followed by a tension-cracking laugh from the large monster. Perhaps it was the sheer absurdity of the situation, perhaps it was the stress, perhaps… hell, perhaps Asgore had lost his damned mind, Alphys has no way of knowing why the king had just belly laughed in a way she hadn’t heard in a very, very long time. It hadn’t been what she was expecting from the rather sad looking figure, and it was just throwing her off even more.

“No, little one,” he chuckled and took a step forward, “My name is King Asgore Dreemurr of the Monsters.” The little girl tilted her head as she processed what he had said, then with immense effort, slid off the bed to the floor. Her prosthetic leg and metal implants made a ‘clank’ noise when she hit the ground and then she attempted a bow, but just fell over, still weak from losing so much blood and the recent surgeries. 

Asgore moved before Alphys could, kneeling down and reaching out with his massive paws, the tiny dazed girl lifting her head and looking into his eyes. Alphys still had her hands outstretched and pulled them to her side, shifting from foot to foot and trying her best not to cave in to the rather pressing impulse to scream. Asgore grew quiet as Frisk struggled to stand, looking deeply pained as though something inside of him just… broke as he stared into those little eyes. How many times before had he seen those pleading, scared eyes looking up at him, the eyes of someone innocent, how many times had he closed those eyes with a swing of his trident? And now here he was, about to do it again, to a child who had fallen into lava, a child who had almost as much metal in her body as she had flesh. 

A child who looked so much like…

“Y-y-your highness?”

Asgore blinked and wiped something from his eyes with his large fingertips, standing fully and taking a shaky breath. Alphys had rarely seen the king in such a state, but given the circumstances…

“I k-know that t-this might be a l-little unorthodox…” Alphys feet tapped nervously as she clasped her claws together. “But, I-I… I ca-can’t let you t-take her, Asgore, M-Majesty, Highness… person. I’m sorry.” The last two words coming out as a nearly silent squeak.

Asgore drew himself to his full height, face darkened by the fluorescent light hanging above him. Alphys froze in outright terror at the wrath she just incurred, but she stood her ground despite how badly she was trembling. Asgore simply looked back and forth between the scientist and the girl with the familiar face. This was insane, she couldn’t  _ do  _ this, but here she was doing it anyway. He stood tall and stalwart as the mountain itself, a dark silent obelisk bathed by the light behind him. But Alphys stood her ground regardless, putting herself directly between Frisk and the king himself. It might not have been the best hill to die on, but she’d made her decision. 

Asgore, finally, let out a long, heavy breath through his caprine snout, eyes falling on Alphys with her little claws clamped into fists. After another arduous few seconds of painful, dragging silence, Asgore finally sighed. His shoulders stooped, his form hunched, and the weariness on his features was apparent. He didn’t look like the king of all monsters right then. He just looked… tired.

“I... have business I must attend,” Asgore stated in that quiet rumble of his, but still managed to make himself heard perfectly. “I do expect you to keep in touch.  _ Doctor _ .”

Alphys struggled and tried to respond, opening and closing her mouth, but nothing was coming out. She watched as Asgore promptly turned on the spot and walked away, but he didn’t quite make it out before Frisk called, in a weak and slightly synthetic voice, “Goodbye, Doctor King.” The expression Asgore shot back was a combination of amusement but also deep, writhing, churning pain. The caprine ruler gave a wave and slipped out the door, leaving Alphys stunned next to the human. Alphys could barely believe her luck. She was sweating furiously, clammy, she felt sick and slightly dizzy but stars help her she had  _ done _ it.

Alphys couldn’t fathom the foolishness of what she had just attempted. Fortunately Frisk was there to snap her out of her dazed stupor, and noticed that she was shaking badly. Frisk’s metallic hand twined across her other, rubbing her forearms uneasily.

“... Oh my god I c-can’t believe I just did that,” Alphys breathed heavily and ran a hand down her face, pushing her glasses to the side. 

Frisk responded by collapsing into a human puddle with a clank. Alphys darted to her side in worry and clasped her under the arms, hoisting her as best she could. Frisk’s mechanical legs twitched and clicked noisily, her trembling apparent. Alphys could understand her trepidation. She could barely remain upright as it were. But she did her best and helped the human stumble weakly over to the recovery bed, assisting her when she inevitably tripped and fell again.

“J-just a bit further…” Alphys half dragged the girl at this point, she was wheezing for breath and her one good eye was narrowed with determination on the nearby bed. She forced one clanking foot in front of the other, at last collapsing onto her side on the bed, hair draped over her eyes as she gasped for breath. Alphys clapped her on the shoulder in what she hoped was a reassuring manner. “Y-you’re doing  _ great _ , o-okay?”

“Don’t feel great,” Frisk mumbled, struggling to push herself up with her false arm.

“J-just try t-to rest for now, alright?” she pulled the surgical sheet up and draped it over the human, who just shivered weakly. “Y-you’re going to be alright. I p-promise.”

It wasn’t an entirely empty promise, but one full of hope. Frisk was passed out within moments, the thin black strip over her eye blinking to a small ‘u’ as her other eye flitted closed, her breathing labored but steadier than it had been. Alphys patted her on the head and settled into her swivel chair. She had a lot of work ahead of her. It certainly wouldn’t be easy. She had a lot of questions and not nearly enough answers, but no matter what, she would manage. People were depending on her. The encounter with Asgore had been… well, pants-fillingly terrifying, but it had raised quite a few questions as well. As the Royal Scientist, she had a few liberties, she would take every step she could to doing what she could to help. There were a metric ton of issues staring her down and a darkness clinging over her shoulder that felt ever so slightly familiar.

And despite everything, no matter how she tried to shrug it off, Alphys just couldn’t shake the feeling that she had forgotten something terribly important.

0-0-0-0-0

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



End file.
